


Reuniting and Reconnecting

by Underworld_Vampires



Category: The X-Files
Genre: Christmas Fluff, F/M, First Christmas as a couple
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-19
Updated: 2020-12-19
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:00:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,019
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28175790
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Underworld_Vampires/pseuds/Underworld_Vampires
Summary: With no other plans, Mulder and Scully decide to spend the holidays together. Of course, as with everything with these two, nothing goes quite as planned when Scully's estranged brother, Charlie, calls and says that he's going to be coming in to celebrate the holidays with her. ll Part of the X-Files Fanfic Holiday Exchange
Relationships: Charlie Scully/Original Character(s), Fox Mulder/Dana Scully
Comments: 1
Kudos: 39
Collections: X-Files Secret Santa Fanfic Exchange (2020)





	Reuniting and Reconnecting

**Author's Note:**

  * For [markwatneyandensemble](https://archiveofourown.org/users/markwatneyandensemble/gifts).



> This fic is for markwatneyandensemble! I hope you enjoy it! I really liked your prompt, especially because it challenged me to write Charlie, who I've never wrote about before! So yeah, I hope you enjoy! And Happy Holidays everyone!

Scully let out a sigh as she set down the last of the Christmas decorations. With Maggie visiting Bill, and her and Bill not being on speaking terms this year, she found herself spending this Christmas alone. She still had yet to set up her decorations, and Christmas was in two days. She had at least thought to put up her tree, unfortunately a fake one because she couldn’t find a nice real tree this close to the holiday. It was one of the trees that came with lights already put on the tree so all she would have to do would be put the ornaments and the star on the top and she would be ready. 

She was just about to start working on the box of ornaments that she had, when there was a knock on the door. She couldn’t help but groan. Why couldn’t Mulder leave her alone on the holidays? She set the glass ball down and went to open the door. All 6 feet of Mulder stood towering over her, holding a box of pizza and a case of beers. 

“What are you doing here, Mulder? Here to take me on another one of your ghost hunts before Christmas?” She couldn’t help the biting tone that came with this. In theory, she could have maybe had plans with her mother had Mulder not taken her out of town with no opportunity to talk to Maggie until she had already left. 

“No I-,” He swallowed, looking like he was weighing what he was going to say next. “I wanted to have a peace offering. I know there isn’t much I can say, but I know Christmas with your mother is important to you, but I figured that maybe we could spend it together this year. No Ghost hunts, no monsters or aliens, just friends enjoying the holidays together.” 

Scully couldn’t deny she was taken aback by this. She never knew Mulder to want to just be normal like this, but it meant a lot to her that he was trying. She didn’t realize how long it had been since Mulder spoke until she caught him staring at her nervously. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have imposed, Scully. I’ll leave these with you, and let you get back to decorating.” 

“No, Mulder.” She caught him before he left “I would love to spend Christmas with you. Why don’t you set those down and come help me put these on the tree.” 

Her heart leapt in her chest when she saw his face light up and he hurried to the kitchen to set the pizza and beers down. When he came back, he went into the box to grab the first ornament. The two of them started to put the ornaments on the trees in relative silence, making quiet comments as they did. Scully made a jab at him putting too many ornaments at the top, but Mulder responded with her being closer to the ground so she could reach the bottom. This resulted in a friendly elbow to his side as they laughed. 

After about twenty minutes, Scully’s stomach started to rumble so they took a break to try and dig into the food that they had. While she was mid-bite of pizza, her phone started to ring. “It’s probably my mom, calling to check in.” She said with her mouth full. She swallowed her bite, and stood up to answer the phone. 

“Hello?” Scully said, and Mulder twisted to face her in his chair. “Charlie?” 

This caught Mulder’s attention for sure. The other Scully brother, the one that he still had yet to meet. He knew that the man had been estranged from his family for some time now, though Mulder was still unclear as to why that was. Why on earth was Charlie calling now? Maybe something happened to Maggie, and Bill was too damn stubborn to call his sister. 

“Oh, I mean, I had plans for the holiday but…” She sighed “I’d love to see you again, Charlie, and Mark too. Don’t worry. Tomorrow for dinner at my place? Perfect. I’ll see you then.” 

She hung up the phone, rubbing her face. He could see the tell tale signs of Scully starting to panic and he immediately got up. 

“What’s going on, Scully?” He asked, visibly concerned for her. He heard the part about Charlie coming over, but he didn’t understand why she was so freaked out. He thought that she should be happy, having her brother reach out and try to make peace with her.

“My other brother, Charlie… He was coming to DC to try and make amends, thinking that we were doing Christmas at Mom’s like we normally do but he found out that she flew out to visit Bill and Tara since Matty is still a little too young to make the flight out. He and Bill will never get along again, so he wants to make the most of the time here and see me.” 

“Oh… did you want me to get out of your hair, Scully?” Mulder offered, sounding completely genuine. “I don’t want to bother you and your family, and I know how important family is to you.” 

“No, I want you there, Mulder.” Scully’s face turned a little pink at the admission. They were finally starting to make progress in their relationship, at least in his mind, and this confirmed that thought to him. “I think you should meet my brother but there is… also something you should know about him.” A silent nod from Mulder prompted her to continue talking. “He… the reason that he’s estranged from my family is that he’s gay. He has been seeing his partner, Mark, for almost ten years now. While Mom and I are accepting, Bill and Ahab were never okay with it and it just caused tension in the family. Charlie left and he really only calls if we’re lucky this time of year. Of course he picks this year to try and reconcile and give us a chance to make things right.” 

Mulder didn’t know what to say at first, knowing that he had nothing against anyone in the gay community, but he couldn’t deny that he felt a little hurt that she would think that about him. But it also wasn’t about him. 

“If your brother is okay with me being there, I will be more than happy to stay with you. I’ll even help you cook the Christmas dinner.” He teased and watched her relax and move to settle down into her chair once again. “Just an important question, what are you planning to make for food?” 

Her eyes widened as if she just realized that she was going to have to find food the day before Christmas to make. It wasn’t going to be easy, that was for sure. 

“I’ll take care of it, now what do you say we get back to food so we can finish decorating the apartment.” Scully said, going back to her pizza. The two of them finished their food and their beer, before heading back to the tree. They had a lot to do before the next night, and when they finally managed to finish, it was late into the evening. Too late for Mulder to go home. 

“Come on, Mulder, let’s get some sleep, you can stay the night.” She smiled, going into her room to bring out some of the clothes he had left there one of the few nights that she had pretended to forget so she could hold onto it. 

“I was wondering where this shirt had gone,” Mulder teased, enjoying the way her face flushed. Perhaps the beer had been a little too much at the time. They had far too much to drink, but that didn’t stop Mulder from staring at the way her face was illuminated by the glow of the Christmas lights and how kissable her lips looked. The next thing he knew, he was leaning down, and she was moving to stand on her toes to press their lips together in a gentle kiss. It only lasted a moment, but Mulder could swear everything just settled into place in that moment. They pulled back and she smiled up at him. He knew that his smile must have matched hers. “I’ll go changed and sleep on the couch.” 

“Or… you could join me in bed.” Scully smiled and pulled him gently to the bedroom. 

\--

While the night before had been a dream for the both of them, the day that followed was almost a nightmare. In preparation for Charlie and his partner coming to visit, they had been up early in the morning to drive to every open supermarket to find everything they might need for the visit. In the end, Mulder went shopping for some of the minor stuff, some appetizers and alcohol. Scully went to three different supermarkets before she managed to find everything she would need to make Christmas dinner. 

It was already noon by the time they both returned to Scully’s apartment, and immediately, Scully started to prepare the ham while Mulder began to prepare the sides, taking only one second to put Christmas music on in the background. The space in her kitchen was definitely not conducive to the way they were cooking. They both kept running into each other and tripping on each other. Mulder almost spilled the mashed potatoes while Scully almost dropped the glass with the ham in it. 

About an hour into starting to make the food, there was a knock on the door. “Coming!” Scully’s voice was easily heard over the music as she set the ham in the oven, finally, and she went to open the door.

A red-haired man in a hilarious Christmas sweater who stood about six inches over Scully, was standing at the door with a dark haired man at about two inches taller than him. The red-head, who Mulder figured was Charlie, immediately leaned forward and pulled Scully into a hug. 

“It’s good to see you, short-stack.” Charlie said, pulling back to smile at her. “I’d like to, finally, physically introduce you to Mark.” He gestured to the man standing beside him, who looked definitely a little shy and nervous. 

“It’s good to meet you, Dana.” Mark said, shaking Scully’s hand. Finally, they both noticed Mulder in the kitchen, working on some of the other sides. 

“Who is this, Dana? You didn’t tell me you had a guest over… Never mind, I do vividly remember you mentioning having plans. I am so sorry,” Charlie said, looking back at his older sister. 

“Right, I haven’t spoken to you in some time more than a birthday wish. I haven’t had the chance… Charlie, Mark, this is Mulder. He’s my,...” Scully’s voice tampered out, unable to figure out exactly what to call him. 

“I’m her partner, in most senses of the word. At work and in her personal life as well,” Mulder walked over, wiping his hands off as he did so. 

“Oh so this is the FBI agent that Mom mentioned you might be spending the holiday with when I spoke to her. The one Billy seems to have a problem with.” Charlie looked Mulder up and down, and Mulder felt sweat roll down his back. What if he had all the Scully siblings against him? That thought was short-lived as Charlie stuck a hand out for him to shake. “Any person who my brother hates and my sister loves must be a good person, so you are automatically a friend of mine. I’m Charlie Scully, and this is Mark, my life partner.”

Both Mulder and Scully seemed to relax at the friendly atmosphere that the two men brought to the apartment. Scully let them in and helped them find a place to put their coats, covered in a light dusting of snow. She hadn’t even realized that the weather had taken that turn until that particular moment, and she hoped that it didn’t get worse.

“Sorry the food isn’t ready yet. Mulder and I went out this morning to get food for dinner and it’s still cooking.” Scully apologized, suddenly feeling like a terrible host as she brought wine over for all of them. 

“I bought a cheese plate and crackers if you want something to hold you over until dinner,” Mulder interjected. 

“Bring it over and let the food simmer, we want to hear all about how the two of you met!” Charlie said, taking a sip of his wine. His free arm moved to wrap around Mark’s shoulder, and he moved to curl up into his side. Mulder couldn’t help but think just how sweet their dynamic was, and how he longed to be like that with Scully some day. 

“Oh, it’s not that interesting of a story.” Scully waved off as she moved to sit on the armchair next to Mulder “I was assigned to work with him in special cases, and we’ve been working together for about six years now. The relationship part of our partnership was a… very recent endeavor.” 

“I can’t believe it’s that little of a story, especially seeing as how much Mom told me Mulder and Bill do not get along.” 

“Not like that’s too hard to believe that people don’t get along with your brother,” Mark muttered under his breath, and Mulder knew already that he was going to get along just fine with Mark. He had enough difficulty getting along with Bill, he was thankful to know that it wasn’t just him that Bill didn’t get along with. “So what sort of cases do the two of you work?” 

“Tell me, do you believe in the existence of Extraterrestrials?” Mulder immediately jumped in. His life’s work was something he was very proud of. No matter what the rest of the Scully family thought of his work, he would remain proud of it. Scully shrunk a little bit in her seat, not ashamed so much as she was afraid of what her brother’s reaction would be. She wanted to make sure that he wouldn’t turn his head and mistreat her partner like Bill did. 

“I don’t, but Mark here is a fan of all things alien and supernatural. Isn’t that right, babe?” Charlie turned to look at his partner, who nodded enthusiastically. 

“I’ve been reading about cryptids and the like since I was young. I don’t know why, but I’ve always found them to be so fascinating.” Mark commented, glancing over at Mulder for a moment when his eyes widened. “Wait, shit, I can’t believe I didn’t put the pieces together. You’re Agent Fox Mulder, you’re a little bit of a legend to so many of us. I’ve read up on some of your cases.” 

Both Scully and Mulder felt their faces heat up at Mark’s realization, and Mulder especially became a bit embarrassed. He knew that some of the weirder cases he had worked in the past ended up in newspaper articles or on the different forums that existed, but to know that Scully’s brother’s partner knew about him was a little out there to him. How was he supposed to react to that? 

Thankfully, he didn’t have to think about it, because the timer went off to signal the fact that the ham was done. Both agents shot up from their chairs to get the dinner together. 

“That was a saved by the bell moment, huh Scully?” He laughed and gently bumped her hip with his own. 

“Shut up, Mulder.” Scully said as she set the tray down on the counter. “I didn’t realize your work was so well known? I mean… I knew that you had connections everywhere, but not like this. I didn’t realize that Mark would have any idea of who you are.” 

“Are you embarrassed by this?” He suddenly felt a little insecure. What if this caused Scully to change her mind in the long run. What if she decided that she didn’t want someone like him, who was known by the cryptid and MUFON communities. 

“Not at all, but I would have been happy to get some warning that you might have a fan in my brother’s partner.” She stood on her toes to press a gentle kiss to his cheek before she went to set the food out on the table. “Charlie, stop making out on the couch with Mark and go wash your hands.” 

A pair of embarrassed laughter was heard from the couch as both men went to go wash up for dinner. 

“Way to sound like your mother there, Scully.” Mulder teased as he plated the sides and brought them to the table as well. The only response was an elbow to the side and a gentle smack on the ass which caused him to jump. “Hey, Scully, no need to get handsy.” He moved and wrapped his arms around her after she set the ham down. Their lips pressed together in another gentle kiss. 

“Hmm, never going to tire of that.” Mulder commented and went to kiss her again when they heard Charlie clear his throat behind them. They separated as if they had been burned, and turned a deep shade of red. 

“Now who needs to stop making out with their partner.” Charlie teased as Mulder and Scully went to finish bringing things to the table. They all settled down to eat, Scully and Charlie both muttering a prayer before crossing themselves to eat. 

Dinner was relatively pleasant, discussions veering away from work and supernatural things, and instead went towards more mundane things. 

“There was actually a reason we decided now to reconnect with everyone,” Charlie admitted about halfway through dinner “Besides the fact that I heard so late after your cancer… and how much I hated myself for not being there for you.” Scully reached across and squeezed her brother’s hand, wanting him to know that she didn’t blame him for anything. She couldn’t, knowing his fear of rejection from her as well. “Well… Mark’s sister and her husband recently passed away in a car accident. They had a one year old daughter, sweetest little thing and well… they named Mark as her godparent. We’re in the middle of petitioning the court to let him keep her, despite being an unmarried working man. But… if all works out, by early next year, we will be parents to a baby girl. And we didn’t want her to grow up without a large extended family.” 

Scully fell quiet for a moment. She couldn’t help but think of Emily in that moment, how she had lost the chance at parenthood but she would do everything in her power to make sure her brother had what he needed to be an amazing parent.

“I’m sure you’re going to do an amazing job at raising this little girl, Charlie. You were always the nurturing type when we were growing up.” She gave him a bright smile “And mom will be thrilled to be a grandmother to your daughter.” 

“And you and Mulder here will be the best Aunt and Uncle this little girl could ever have.” Charlie responded “We’ll definitely be in to try and visit more so you get to spend a lot of time with her. I know how much you love kids, Dana.” 

Tears welled up in Scully’s eyes and it took everything to get her to not break down in sobs at the dinner table. She did love kids, and she knew she would dote on this little girl more than anything. But yet, she could only feel a little bit of resent for her brother as bad as it was to say. She thought of her missed opportunities, how she would never get this chance. Thankfully, she didn’t need to say anything, because Mulder jumped in. 

“I can’t wait to meet her,” Mulder said with a bright smile “And any time that you’re in town and you just want a little bit of alone time, you can just leave her alone with her Aunt Dana and Uncle Fox here, and we’ll watch over her.” 

Mark laughed, any remaining tension in his body easing almost immediately. “Thank you, both of you. You don’t know how much of a relief it is to hear you two be so accepting of us and our endeavors.” 

“Hey, think nothing of it. We’re just doing what everyone should do. There is nothing wrong with either of you, nor is there anything wrong with wanting to raise a child. Having two loving dads is nothing to frown upon, in fact, I think this little girl may just be the luckiest girl ever, to be brought into an amazing family like yours.” Mulder reassured them. He could only see what these words meant to the couple sitting across from him.

The news brought more discussions of what the coming year could bring as new parents, but it was all happy. By the time the end of the night came around, Mulder and Scully were walking Charlie and Mark to the door. 

“We had a wonderful time,” Charlie said as he pulled Scully into a tight hug. “I’m so glad to see you again, Dana. We’re going to definitely have to do this again… Mark and I are thinking about moving to the area so we can be closer to you and Mom. I want our little girl to be around as many people in our family as possible. We’re not going to hide her history from her, but Mark’s parents aren’t around anymore either, so we’re all the family this little girl is going to have.” 

“You don’t have to explain yourself Charlie.” Scully reassured him, staring up at her brother “Call me after the holidays and I can help you find a home in a good, safe area for you three to live.” 

“You mean…?” There was a hanging question in the air, but Scully knew exactly what her brother meant. 

“You do know I have a history of… seeing women as well,” She told her brother “I know there are a few areas around here that are safe for people like you and Mark, I can see if any of them have any open housing.” 

“Thank you, so much.” Charlie pulled her into one last hug before moving to wrap his arm back around Mark. 

“It was a pleasure to meet both of you,” Mark said to Mulder and Scully “I hope we have the chance to do this again, with more notice of course.” 

“Of course,” Mulder laughed “Now get out of here before the snow picks up again.” The two other men laughed and nodded, before putting their coats on and slipping out of the apartment to head back to their hotel. 

“Are you okay, Scully?” Mulder checked in with her, knowing that the discussion of children must have been hard on her. He saw her take a steadying breath before nodding. 

“Yeah, I think so,” She smiled up at him “It wasn’t easy to think about, but I’m happy for Charlie. He’s struggled so much finding his place since he came out as gay to our parents, but I’m glad he’s found a man who loves him like Mark does, and soon they’ll have a little girl to add to the mix. I’m glad he’s returning to the family, at least with mom and me. I’ve missed him.” 

Mulder pulled Scully into another hug and pressed a kiss to her head and then her lips just once. “I could see how much this meant to you, and although we didn’t get the Christmas we planned on initially, I dare say this was a really good experience and I’m glad to meet your other brother to know that he doesn’t hate me. Now, we should probably take care of the dishes before I head off.” 

She entwined their fingers and gently pulled him away from the kitchen and towards the bedroom. 

“The dishes can wait, come to bed, Mulder. You still need to unwrap your Christmas gift.” 


End file.
